The Guyana Citizen’s Initiative (GCI) has written to the Minister of Local Government Kellawan Lall raising concerns about the functioning of a site at Lusignan as a landfill and making recommendations for its proper operation.
The letter signed by its Chairman, Bert Carter stated that the media report of July 22, 2008 that citizens of Beehive and neighbouring villages on the East Coast have complained of the illegal dumping of garbage in their communities is a timely reminder that garbage disposal on the East Coast is approaching crisis proportions.
The letter pointed out that Lusignan was never intended or designed to be a sanitary landfill, but a temporary waste holding area created at the time of the 2005 floods as an emergency measure to ease the pressure on the dump site on Princes Street where the waste being held at Lusignan would eventually be deposited.
The letter dated July 24 referred to the signing of a contract by the Ministry of Local Government on July 10 with Puran Brothers Disposal Services and reported in Stabroek News for the operation of the Lusignan landfill site.
The letter, which was released to the media after the GCI said there was no response from the minister or the Environmental Protection Agency to which it had been copied, said that based on information from the East Coast Demerara Clean Up Committee which had been set up during the 2005 flood and the consideration of a number of reports and studies, the GCI wanted basic features taken account of in the design and operation of the Lusignan site. GCI said that: 1. the waste from the East Coast had to be deposited effectively in cells (specially constructed pits), 2. there has to be daily compaction with heavy rollers to optimize landfill space, 3. there has to be daily soil cover to reduce irritants such as flies, rodents and odour and 4. the environment must be protected in the process.
Moreover, the GCI noted that expert opinion made available to it strongly recommends that the site conforms to certain basic requirements, among which are that there should be an all-weather road approaching the site to ensure continued operations during heavy rainfall and the entire facility should be fenced to make the holding area a service facility, keeping out all unauthorized persons and animals. The letter said that a recent visit to the site by GCI personnel, before the start of the operation by Puran Brothers, discovered a family of bare-footed children and their parents scavenging in the refuse site.
During a previous visit by ECD Clean Up Committee members, groups of people could be seen picking up plastic bottles which they said were being sold to bottom house business places manufacturing condiments.
GCI also contended that a gate office should be situated to guide delivery trucks to deposit their pay loads in the prescribed cells and the site should not be swampy or otherwise water-logged. It posited that there should be perimeter canals within or without the fence to ensure that leachate is collected and treated before it enters the surface canals in the neighbourhood. Given the proximity of the Guysuco canals, this is a vital requirement, it argued.
Waste should also be deposited in cells – one cell at a time and in layers – until the prescribed height is to be compacted. The potential of fires and the need for adequate monitoring were also raised by GCI.